A Time to Choose

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

This novel, which is based on historical fact, takes place in the
countryside around Leeuwarden, the capital of Holland’s Friesland
province. World War II is drawing to a close, and Johannes van der Meer,
16, finds himself increasingly shunned because his father, a member of
the pro-Nazi National Socialist Movement, continues to collaborate with
the Germans. Even Sietske Dijkstra, Johannes’s girlfriend, is
forbidden to associate with him, a parental edict she ignores.

Tainted by his father’s Nazi ties, Johannes decides to assist the
local resistance group. When eight resistance members are captured
during a failed raid, Johannes is called upon to be part of a rescue
group that successfully breaks into Leeuwarden’s House of Detention.
Canadian troops liberate the van der Meer farm on April 15, 1945, but
Johannes’s happiness is short-lived for vengeful resistance members
summarily execute his father.

A Time to Choose is an action-packed story populated by a large cast of
well-developed characters. The believability of the story is enhanced by
numerous small details about wartime Holland and the effects of the
German occupation on the daily lives of the Dutch people. Recommended.